The invention relates to a substrate with an undercoat as bonding layer for a printing medium to be deposited subsequently on the substrate in a laser printing process. Also within the scope of the invention is a suitable coating composition providing an undercoating on a substrate and the use of a printed substrate.
Aluminum and plastic lidding foils for blister packs are almost always provided with printed decorative patterns or images. Suitable for large series are flexo-printing and photo-gravure printing processes; for smaller series the printing may be performed in-line on the packaging equipment. Smaller elements of the image that consistently change from image to image, such as EAN and number codes, are added to these images normally by means of ink-jet printing. In order to provide smoothness, protection of the substrate and adhesion for the printing medium, by far the greater part of these images is deposited on a thin undercoat. This undercoat must be able to withstand the normal hot sealing at temperatures of up to 260.degree. C. experienced on sealing the blister pack, and it must not adhere to the blank or coated metallic, hot sealing tools. For that reason only organic coating materials with the smallest possible thermoplasticity come into question.
Recently, in addition to the above mentioned printing methods, a new printing process has been developed which, as with flexo, printing and photo-gravure printing--for images of similar size, offers the possibility to change the image completely from print to print with practically negligible time delay. This may take place externally or in-line on the packaging equipment. The mode of operation is similar to that in laser printing on paper. A printing medium is transferred to a laser activated printing roll and fixed on the substrate by the thermal energy of a flash of light, e.g. by a xenon arc lamp.
This thermal energy is many times smaller than that provided in the thermal activation of laser printing. Under these conditions, the organic undercoats used up to now have provided only insufficient bonding of the printing medium. By adjusting the composition of the organic undercoat to the basic binding agent of the printing medium it has been possible to improve the adhesion of the printing medium to the organic undercoat, but only insignificantly.